Pedigree trap nest and flock culler



J. L. ROBERTS; PEDIGREE TRAP NEST AND FLOCK CULLER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l fi- 1mm s it 052175 I J. L. ROBERTS.

PEDIGREE TRAP NEST AND FLOCK CULLER. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5. 1920.

Patented May 30, 1922.

J. L. ROBERTS. PEDIGREE TRAP NEST AND FLOCK CULLER.

APPLICATION FILED 0015,1920- Patented May 30," 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' duced scale.

res

rarer orikcaj;

JAMES ROBERTS, on eonm, ivrrssonnr.

PEDIGEEE TRAP NEST AND IELOGKOULLER.

Application filed. October 5, 1920. Serial No. "414,839.

The invention relates to a device in the na-' ture of a trap nest; and has for an object the provision of such a device that will 1 cause a hen that enters the nest but does not I lay to return to the pen where she came from; that will allow each hen that enters the nest and lays, to pass to and be confined in an individualcompartment or pen; that will keep the eggs separated, each egg being so placed as to make it possible to identify the hen that laid it; that will be closed so that no more hens may enter when all of the individual pens are occupied by hens that have laid; that may be also utilized to allow any number of hensto pass through the nest and lay successively without individual identification of their eggs so as to merely cull the laying from the non-laying members of a flock, the hens that enter but do not lay being returned to their original enclosure.

An illustrative embodiment of the inven-.

tion is shown in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a horizontal section on line 14-1 of Fig. 2, with parts broken away'to show some of the mechanism in plan view;

Fig. 2 is-a vertical section on 22ofFig. 1;' V Fig. 3 is a detail vertical sectioiron line 33.ofFig.1; r

Fig. 4,is a detail vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2; I e i Fig. 5 is a detail horizontal sectionon line 55 ofFig.2; 2 i Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section on line 6 --6 of Fig. 2; v I

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view ofa lockingrock shaft; and

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view of a complete device drawn to a very much respecification of ietters Patent.

broken line upon lever 29. 3

Patented May In the form of the invention shown, a nest 10 is suspended in a nest box 11. The:

nest comprises a frame 12 sdpportihga funnel shaped nest 13 having a fabric'lining 14. The nest member 13 has an openingat'its apex provided with a discharge tube 15 To control themovements of the hen there I are shown one entrance door 16and. two exit doors-17 and 18. The entrancedoor may be controlled by'the weight of the hen and the exit doors by the weight of the egg. To suspend the, nest in such a manner as to actuate the entrance door 16bridles 19 are f shown attached to the nest frame and to an w arm 20 projecting from a rock shaft 21. To

controlthe door 16 a walking'beam 22 is carried by the rock shaft 21 and. the door 16 is suspended from one-end thereof as at 23 and a weight 24 is suspended from the other end thereof. The weight 24 must. be

sufficient to lift both the door 16 and the nest 10. When a hensteps into the nest the entrance door 16 will be closed and she must escape by one of the exit doors. To support the exit doors so the ends 'of'which the exit doors 17 and 18 that one of 'themv shall be always open while the other is closed, there is provided a second rock shaft 25 carrying a walking beam 26ifrom may be suspended. To operate the exit doors so that the directionof exit-0f the hen will i be controlled by the event of her having or not having laid an egg, an arm 27 extending from the rock shaft 25 may be connected, by a string 28, with the end of a lever 29 fulcrumed at 30 to a post 31. 'As more side members 32 and a sling of fabric "clearly indicated in Fig. 4 the lever ,29is

may be secured to the side members for .re-

ception of'the eggs as they drop throughithe spout 15 without injury 'to the egg. When an egg lies upon the sling 33 the" exit door 17 will be held closed and the door 18 will be open. The end of the walking beam 26 to which the door 18 is connected is enough longer than the end to which door 1'7; is connected, and also than arm" 27, so i that the door 18 may normally stand closed and hold" door 17 and lever 29 elevated. This condition is reversed by the weight of an egg ion 3 willbe surrounded by the basket.

While a hen is on the nest a second hen must not be allowed to enter, therefore the exit door 17 is. shown only half raised when in its elevated position andhas a stop 34 extending from the bottom of the door opening substantially to its top. A..;hen attempting to push her way in from the outside will findthe door immovable inwardly.

The stop 35 on the outside of the door, however, extends only to a pointbelowthe lower edge of the door 17 in its elevated position. The member 36which suspends the door 17 is fastened to the doorbelow its upper edge as at 37' so that the upper edge of the door may be free to swing inwardly when hen turned to position by the action of'gravita-- tlon. However, if she lays-an the door.

17 will be closed and the door 18 open, when she can only pass out through door 18.

To remove the egg from the sling an open bottomed basket 38, preferably a wire frame covered with cloth, may be provided. The bottom member of the frame of the basket is shown as projecting beyond the basket in one direction and as provided with eyes 39 engaging a link 40 at the other side of the basket. The link 40in turn engages a lever ll pivoted to a bracket 4-2 as at 413. An eye 44 secured to the lever 41 adjacent its pivot is shown as engaged by a member 45 rigidly. secured to the frame 12 of the nest. hen the nest is lowered by the weight of the hen the basket will be projected to the position shown in full lines in Fig. a, in which positionan falling on sling 33 When the nest rises as the hen leaves, the basket will be pulled tothe dotted line position in Fig. f and the egg, if one has been laid, will fall through the basket into any suitable receptacle as a tray 46, shown as divided into compartments of a number equal to the number of hens which the machine isto accommodate without attention. N

To operatethe mechanism for opening the doors to the individual pens successively and, for shiilt'ting'the egg tray+l6. there is shown a platform 47 outside the exit door 18 which platform is pivoted as at 48 and normally held in a slightly elevated position by means of a weighted lever..4:9 and connections 50. A spring may be substituted for this ar:

ran ement, if desired- A drum 51 mounted ti to revolveon an axis 52 maybe caused to revolve a given distance each time .a hen steps upon the platform 47, by meansofa pawl 53 acting on ratchet 54s A second pa vl 55 and ratchet 56 are indicated, the function their respective eggs, the space above the platform 47 may be enclosed asshown by wire netting 60, door frames 61 and doors 62. The doors may. each be pivoted upon a rod as 6-3 projecting downwardly and stepped in a member 6 1:. and a second. rod

65 projecting upwardlythrough the. upper member 66 of the door frame. The member 66 may be of sufficient extent to enclose the entire space above the platform 47. To actuate the doors each rod 63 is shown as provided with an, arm 67 projecting therefrom and having a turned up extremity 68, A string 69 may be passed about and secured to the drum 51- and under a pulley 70 said string havin a rin 71 tiedu 3011 itsfree end.

Secured to the ring 71 are a series of strings 72 passing through an eye 73 and each in turn having a ring 74 tied upon its free end, which rings may each be placed over the extremity 68 upon, the door which it is designed to operate. The string connecting the door to be opened first is the shortest and each succeeding string is longer, therefore when the drum 51 is revolved the strings will be successively pulled upon to open the doors. The portions of the drum 51. about which strings 57 and 69 are wound mayvary in diameter-to provide the necessary amount of motion to the egg tray and to the doors with a given amount of revolution of the drum.

To allow the doors to close after the' hen has passed through, there-is shown a treadle 75 outside of each door, over which treadlc the hen must pass. Each treadle is pivoted as at 76 and has a wire 77 secured to its inner end and standing in a position to lie just below th ring 7% when the door is open. When the hen stepson the outer end 'of'the treadle the inner end will rise and the wire 77 will lift the ring 74 off from the extremity 68 thus releasing the door. Any.

suitable means'may be utilized to give the door a tendency to close when freed. As

shown in Fig. 2, the doors stand out of plumb and will swing shut by gravity when free to do so; Ali-arm 78 may be provided projecting from each door except the last ofthe series which arm will stand in front of the next door in the series when the door carrying the arm 1s open, thus preventing the accidental opening of the next door inopportunely. i V 7 Each door 62 gives access to a separate enclosure 79 from which enclosures the hens cannot escape until an attendant releases them, Whenhe may identify the hen which has laid theegg found'in the. corresponding compartment of the tray 46. I

To close the entrance door 16 when the hen passes into the last enclosure 79 of the series, the ring 74 which operatesvthe last door 62 has a string 80 attached thereto, which string passes through eyes 81 and 82 and is attached to a crank '83 projecting from a rock shaft 84. A second crank 85 projects from the rock shaft 8% which crank is connected with the walking beam 22 by means of a cord 86. 'VVhen the weight 24 is'liited by the action of thenest the cord 86 will merely slackcn. "Whenthe ring 74: is moved to open the last door 62, the rockshaft will be turned until the crank 85 passes th perpendicular, lifting the weight 24c and closing the entrance door 16. A stop-87 isshown which will preventthe revolution of the rock shaft 84 under influence of the weight 24: when the crank 85 has passed the center.

To enable the strings j57'and 69 to berm a flock culler only-,.without identification of the individual hen with her egg, it is desir able that the exit doors be still controlled by the eggs. To this end an'addedcompartment 93 may be'provided in; the egg tray which compartment 1s without a bottom and an opening 94: may be formedin the bottom of the device with an egg chute 95 in communication therewith. To use the device as a flock culler it is only necessary to depress the platform normally one step beyond its normal action to draw the open bottomed compartment of the tray into position to receive the eggs, to open one of the enclosures 79 and its door 62, so that the laying hens can escape into a separate pen and to secure the pawls 53 and 55 in a ,raised position as by hanging weights on. the ends 92 of the wires 88, 89. The egg chute 95 may be arranged to deliver to any suitable receptacle, not shown.

Many minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the invention without departing from its spirit.

I claim:

1. A trap nest and flock culler comprising, in combination, a nest box, a nest in said box having an opening in the bottom thereof, an entrance door in said box, a plurality of exit. doorsv in said box, one of said "exit doors adapted to normally allow exit but prevent entrance of a hen therethrough,

means actuated by the weight-of a hen; to close said entrance door, means actuated by the pressure of an egg to close said normally open exit doorzand to open a normally closed exit door.-

2. A trap nest and fioclrculler comprising, in combination, a nest box, a series of enclosures, an entrance door in said box, an

exit door in said box, {a series of entrance doors for said enclosures, means to close said box entrance door when a hen is inthebox, means to open said exit door when an egg is laid and .means to open said enclosure entrance doors successively as successive hens pass through said exit-door.

A trap nest and flock culler comprising, in combination, a nest' box,a series of en;- closures, an entrance door in said :box,.an exit door in said. box, a series; of entrance doors for said enclosures, means to close said box entrance door-when a hen is inth'e box, means to open said exit door when anegg is laid, and: means to closefsaid box entrance door when the last of theseries of enclosure entrance doors is'opened.

t. A trap nest and flock culler comprising,

in combination, anestbox, entranceand exit doors in said box, meansto 'clos'e said entrance (lQOIYWhllG there s a hen 1n the box, meanscontrolled by the presence, of an egg to control said exitdoor, .a, movable plat? .formexterior of said exit door, a seriesof enclosures adjacent said platform, a series of entrance doors for] said enclosures, and '7 means actuated by movement of said platform for successively openlng sald doors to series.

in combination, a nest box, entrance'and em,

doors, in said box, means to close said entrance door while ahen is in the box, means I permltaccess to successive enclosures of'sald controlled bythe presence of an egg tocontrol said exit door, a movable platform extenor of said exit door, a series of enclosures ad acent said platform, a series of entrance doors for said enclosures, and means actuated by movement of said platform for suc cessively opening-said doors to permit access of successive hens to successive enclosures of said SBI'IGS, and means to store successive eggs laid in said box preserving the orderv in which they are laid.

6. A trap nest and flock culler comprising, in combination, a nest box, an entrance and a pluralityof exit doors in said box, a vertically movable nest in said box, means aotu- 2 ated by lowering of said nest under the weight of a hen to close said entrance door, an egg spout in the bottom of said nest, a

lever below sald spout, means actuated by movement of said lever underweight of an egg to actuate said exit doors to determine the direction of exit of a hen by the event of her having laid or not having laid an e means to store the eggs'separately in'the order-as laid and means to separately confine hens which lay in theancst box.

7 A trap nest and flock culler comprising, in combination, a nest box, an entrance and a plurality of exit doors in said box, a vertically movablenest in said box, means actuated by lowering of said nest under the weight of a hen to close s aid entrance door, an egg spout in the bottom of said nest, a lever below said spout, means actuated by movement of said leverunder weightof an eggto actuate said exit doors to determine the direction of exit of a hen by the I event of her having laid or not having laid an egg, and means actuated by vertical movement of said nest to remove an egg from said lever. 8. A trap nest and flock culler comprising, in combination, a nest box, an entrance and a plurality of exit doors insaid box, a vertically movable nest in said box, means actuated by lowering of said nest under the weight of a hen to close said'entrance door, an egg spout in the bottom of said nest, a lever below said spout, means actuated by movement of said lever under weight of an egg to actuate saidexit'doo-rs to determine the direction of exit of a hen by the event ofher having laid or not having laid an egg, means actuated by vertical movement of said nest to remove an egg from said lever, means having a plurality of compartments to receive eggs from said removing means, a vertically oscillatable platform exterior of the exit door opened when an egg is laid,

means actuated by oscillation of said platform by presence of a hen thereon to shift saidmeans having a plurality of compartments so that successive eggswill bereceived in successive compartments, a series or enclosures and means controlled by movements ments having doors adjacent said platform,

means operated by said drum to success: sively open said doors, and means operated by said drum toymove a storagemeans to separately store the'eggs whereby eachegg can be identified with the hen that laid it.

10. A trap nest and flock culler, comprising in combination, a nest box,- a plurality of doors in sald box, means to be governed by the weight of an egg tov open one of saidi doors, a movable platform exteriorof said governed door,v a "winding drum, means operated by movement of sald platform to turn said drumstep by step, a series of compartments having doors adjacent said platform, means operated by said drum to successively open said doors, a treadle exterior of each door of the series adapted to disconnect said opening means from that door, and means operated by said drum to move a storage means to separately store the eggs whereby each egg can be identified with the hen that laid it.

1.1. A trap nest and flock culler compris in combination, a nest box, a series of enclosures, an entrance door in said box, an exit door in said box, a series of entrance doors for said enclosures, means operated by the weight of the hen for closing said box entrance, means actuated by the weight of an egg for opening said exit door, andpositive means operated by the closing of the last of said enclosure entrance doors for closing said box entrance door.

JAMES L. ROBERTS. 

